The Isleta Casino is located about 15 miles south of Albuquerque and is the nearest poker room if you stay at the hotels near the Albuquerque Sunport.
I visited twice during the recent Balloon Fiesta celebration. The first time was a Friday afternoon for the 2PM $25 tournament. At that time there was only 1 full table of 2/4 Limit Holdem playing besides the tournament. The tournament started with 1 table and alternates were added as players busted out. There are at least 2 tournaments a day and they have slightly different structures, so if you play the tournaments at Isleta check to see if it allows re-buys. We had one older woman who was surprised when told she could not re-buy. As expected most of the players were locals. There was a separate tournament BadBeat jackpot that I think was around $14K and I think most of the players were more interested in it than winning the tournament. One interesting observation is that there was no tournament clock so the level time left, blinds and payouts were not visible - room manager announced new blind levels.
I returned Saturday around 12:30 in the afternoon and found that the 2/4 LHE game was just beginning. We started with 4 players and no rake but surprisingly the game still qualified for the BigBeat Jackpot which was around $89K. Nobody ever said what the qualifying hands were but they were all chasing it. We gradually got to a full table but went down to 9 when the 2PM tournament began.
The room staff and dealers were very friendly. The tables had been recently refurbished and the chairs were comfortable. Poker menu available on demand with tableside eating OK. Not much in the way of drink service but this is an Indian casino so the drinks aren't free anyhow.
If you're in town and want a friendly, fairly soft game or tournament and don't mind being the outsider, this casino is worth a visit.
